Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the link between lung health and (a) air pollution and (b) indoor air quality in (i) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (ii) Staffordshire.

Poor air quality is one of the largest environmental risks to public health in the United Kingdom. Epidemiological studies have shown that long-term exposure to air pollution, over years or lifetimes, reduces life expectancy, due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Short-term exposure, over hours or days, to elevated levels of air pollution can also cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions, and mortality. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-air-pollution/health-matters-air-pollution